


Allegros, and New Beginnings

by asharaofthedawn, peachmaisie



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Ballet, F/M, Fluff, Found Family, Single Father, single dad, single parent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 17:34:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19300495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asharaofthedawn/pseuds/asharaofthedawn, https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachmaisie/pseuds/peachmaisie
Summary: Matt Murdock puts his daughter into a ballet class, and it leads somewhere he didn’t expect, all because of her beautiful ballet teacher, Elektra.





	Allegros, and New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> From our rps wlthoutfear, and theladyxluckless

When Elektra was first adopted, she didn’t know what to do with all this luxury and money. It was all too much, and she felt trapped by it. Then she was put into ballet lessons. It made the world make sense again, and gave her something to channel her energy into.

Now, she hopes she’s doing the same for the little girls and boys she teaches. It’s the second year since she opened her own studio, with her mother’s help, and she can’t wait to meet her new students.

Matt walks into the studio with Mary by his side, his cane out in front of him and his other hand preoccupied with Mary’s hand intertwined. He can sense her nerves, her palms are sweaty and her breaths are swallow as she looks over at the other children preparing for their first day. She’s brave though, suffers in silence, she gets that from her father.

After a thankfully clean divorce from Claire, Matt had made certain to be present in Mary’s life more. He’d dropped being Daredevil completely a few months after she was born, he couldn’t look after the city now that he had a child of his own. Things were good for the first few years but it wasn’t the life Claire wanted and he respected that, there is still love there but she had to leave for her own sake.

Now that it’s just him and Mary, Matt thought it a good idea to find her a hobby of some kind. She struggles making friends at school due to a tad too much honesty and mopping around his apartment isn’t much fun. He can’t really comment much on ballet but he’s heard good things, he trusts this will be a good thing for the both of them.

Elektra steps into the room, and smiles at all the children in their shoes and outfits. Her eyes quickly run over the parents sitting on nearby benches, and one catches her eye. He sits with his daughter still at his side, and has a cane resting against him.

She bites her lip as she gets a glimpse of how his suit clings to him. She shakes her head. _He’s probably married. Get it together._

“Welcome! I’m Elektra, and I’ll be your children’s teacher for the year.” The children quickly shuffle into a circle, and she sees the hot man’s little girl, hesitates to leave his side.

Matt places a comforting hand on Mary’s back as he feels her tense up. 

“I’m right here, okay? Remember what I said?” He asks and Mary nods, big brown eyes looking up at him.

“Murdock’s don’t give up,” she repeats before Matt gives her a smile and a quick ruffle of her dark hair. She scurries over to the rest of the children while Matt takes a moment to assess the room. Mostly women, a few men scattered in there but he felt like the odd one out for sure.

Elektra smiles warmly at the little girl when she joins the others.

“I hope you don’t mind going around, and saying your names.” She sits on floor across fron them, and crosses her legs.

Mary waits patiently for it to be her turn, occasionally looking over to Matt to make sure he hasn’t left yet.

“I’m Mary,” she says once it finally is her turn, thinking about all the times he’s heard her dad rehearsing his speeches for work. She gives a small smile towards the teacher before turning her attention back to her shoes.

Elektra goes out of her way to make Mary feel comfortable, and by the time the class is ended, Mary even smiles.

Before everyone leaves, Elektra properly introduces herself to each parent. When she gets to Mary’s dad, a little bit of excitement pools in her stomach. Making her feel like a school girl with a crush.

“Elektra Natchios.” She sticks out her hand to shake.

Mary elbows Matt in the side when she sees Elektra’s hand out to shake. He breathes out a chuckle and playfully swats her arm away before he reaches out and fumbles for Elektra’s hand.

“Matt Murdock,” he smiles and takes note of the uptake in Elektra’s heartbeat upon coming over to talk to him. It’s not an unusual occurrence in general but it still has him feeling a little giddy.

“Your little Mary here already seems to have potential. I’m sure by the end of the year she’ll be excelling.” She pushes back a piece of hair that’s fallen loose from her bun.

“I’m sure you and your wife will be pleased.” She’s pushing to see if he’s married, because his ring finger is currently obscured from view. If he is, she’ll force him out of her head, but if he’s not, well, there’s nothing wrong with a little fantasizing and flirtation.

“Oh— no, it’s just us,” he wraps an arm around Mary’s shoulder and brings her close to his side. He puts on a smile, albeit a fake one, for Mary’s sake. Even though it’s been a while since Claire left and she wasn’t even old enough to have many memories of her at all, it’s still a sensitive subject. He knows how it feels after all to be abandoned by your mom.

“Oh?” Elektra raises her eyebrows, and her heart flutters. “I see. Well, I guess we’ll be seeing more of each other then.”

Her eye catches the clock in the corner, and she reads the time. “I better let you go. See you soon Mary.” She waves to the little girl, before stepping back.

Matt lingers after Elektra leaves, only snapping out of his thoughts when Mary slips her hand into his and tugs on it gently.

“She was nice, yeah?” He asks as they start to leave, hand-in-hand once more and with Matt’s cane tapping out in front of him. Mary thinks for a moment before nodding, then tells Matt that she had nodded.

Maybe this will be a good thing for both of us, Matt thinks as they head home.

Elektra was right about Mary. The little girl is a natural, and they’re only doing the basics so far.

The class overall is a delight to teach, and she looks forward to seeing Matt every time. Her initial attraction has turned into a full on crush, and as much as she wants to act on it, she doesn’t. It could make things awkward if he rejected her, while she continues to teach Mary.

If he likes her too, he’ll have to make the first move.

As the classes go on, Matt can see a change in Mary outside of the classroom. She’s opening up more, becoming more confident now that she sees she has abilities worth celebrating and that make her special. He can only thank Elektra for bringing that out in her, for believing in her.

For the first time since Claire left, Matt allows himself to think of another woman. For a long time it hurt too much, was a reminder of the failure of his previous marriage and he chose to put all of his time and focus on Mary. It’s difficult to ignore Elektra though, especially when he can sense the attraction she feels.

Mary was helping out at the church over the weekend, Matt’s way of getting her involved in their faith and also to spend time with her grandmother. Maybe he can go out for once with the free time, rather than stay locked away in his apartment with nothing but silence. 

Elektra is bundled in a coat as she walks down the busy New York street. She was supposed to be having dinner with her mother, but unsurprisingly, she canceled. Now Elektra is wandering through the city. No destination in mind.

As she turns a corner, she spots Matt. She impulsively picks up speed, and taps him on the shoulder. “Hi!”

After having coffee with a potential client, Matt was planning on going to Fogwell’s. It’s been a while since he had the time and while he doesn’t need to be practicing punches anymore, it’d be nice to keep some level of athleticism; who knows when it’ll come in handy.

His head tilts at the tap on his shoulder and he turns, immediately recognizing Elektra from her perfume and fluttering heart. He clutches his cane a little harder, a nervous habit.

“Hi, fancy seeing you here,” he smiles wide, his cheeks flushed a rosy pink from the cold wind.

She laughs lightly. “Would you like to step out of the cold, and maybe get a drink with me? If you don’t have other plans of course.”

The flush on his cheeks makes him even prettier, and she grins.

It takes him a few moments to realise that Elektra is asking him out, but once he does his face breaks out into a grin.

“I’d love that,” he hasn’t felt this way in a forever, excited and giddy and aching for the softest of intimacies.

She links their arms, and smiles brightly as they walk to her favourite nearby bar. His cane and her heels clicking in unison.

She opens the bar door, and they’re hit with a gust of warm air. She grabs them a small corner booth, and slips out of her jacket.

“Where’s Mary tonight?”

“With my mom,” he explains as he shrugs off his coat, “she’s a nun over at Saint Agnes. She takes Mary on occasion, gets her to help out around the church or the orphanage and allows me to have a day to myself.” 

He takes note of the few other patrons lurking around but mostly, his full attention goes to Elektra.

“That’s really nice.” She flips through the drink menu. “I can’t ever see my mother, my adoptive one, doing that if I had a kid.”

“Well one, she’s not a nun.” Elektra laughs. “But one on one time with kids isn’t really her thing. I think she was glad that I was almost ten when they adopted me. I wasn’t as dependent.”

She feels like she’s know him forever, and that makes it easy for her to relax around him.

“Do you think that’s why you starting working with kids?” He asks and nudges his glasses back up his nose, “I— uh, I was raised at the orphanage so I know how you feel, attention wasn’t really divided equally if you know what I mean.”

It isn’t like Matt to be spilling his entire life story to someone who in many ways was still a stranger. He trusts her though, against his better judgement or not. He’s missed being wanted. It’s different with Mary, she’s dependent but Elektra has no real obligation to spend time with him and yet here she is.

“I lived in an orphanage for a year until I was adopted. I know what you mean.” She lays a gentle hand on his from across the table. “My birth mother died when I was eight.”

“To answer your question, I do think that’s a part of the reason I work with kids. That, and I love ballet so much. I want as many people to learn it as possible.” She smiles, and the corners of her eyes crinkle.

Matt turns his hand around after a moment and intertwines their fingers. He hadn’t expected such a story from Elektra but he’s touched that she feels comfortable enough to share it with him, and he’s surprised at how similar their lives were.

“I lost my dad when I was young, not long after…” He gestures up to his glasses with a sad smile. “Things are good now, so can’t complain too much.”

Elektra looks down at their intertwined fingers and smiles. Her hair brushing against her face. “It seems we’re more alike then we thought.” Her thumb caresses the back of his hand.

Maybe she’s finally found the perfect man for her.

“You know, I have drinks back at my place. We could head there instead if you’d like.” Matt suggests with a hint of shyness, the simple touch of Elektra’s hand in his was setting his heart into somersaults and he didn’t quite know what to do with himself.

“I didn’t mean— we can just hang out. I wasn’t suggesting anything else…” his cheeks flush darker at his own awkwardness. He wants to take this slow, it’s not that he wouldn’t happily jump at the change to get into bed with her but its not his priority. 

Elektra bites her inner cheek to stifle a laugh. “That sounds nice. It’s a little crowded here, don’t you think?”

She likes the idea of being alone with him. To truly be relaxed around each other. No outside noise being a distraction.

And if it ends up leading somewhere physical, that’s alright with her too.

Matt’s apartment is neat for the most part. He would have cleaned more if he had known guests were coming over but it’s just something to keep in mind for later. 

“Make yourself at home,” he runs his hand across the small of Elektra’s back as he passes her, heading towards the kitchen. “What do you want to drink?”

“Tequila is good. Mezcal, if you have it.” She slips out of her shoes, and sits down on his couch.

She takes in what she can see of the apartment. Several toys are clustered in the corner, and a DVD of Barbie of Swan Lake, sits beside the DVD player. On the chair across from where she sits, are several Barbies on their sides. She spots a chalkboard on a bedroom door, (which she assumes is Mary’s), that has little dancers drawn on it.

You can definitely tell a little ballet lover lives here, and Elektra loves it.

Matt walks back into the room with two glasses in hand, he places them onto the coffee table before sitting down beside Elektra. He leans back and spreads his legs as he gets comfortable.

It feels strange to be in the apartment without Mary, it isn’t a frequent occurrence but the privacy is nice. He doesn’t want to tell her about whatever this is between him and Elektra until he’s certain, he’d rather she have a positive female role model than him have a girlfriend.

Elektra sips her drink, and snuggles in a little closer to him. Not too close though, she doesn’t want to push it too far.

“So long has it been just you and Mary?”

“A while. Her mom wasn’t happy here, with this life. It all ended amicably but you know, I still worry about Mary.” He takes a thoughtful sip of his own drink before continuing.

“I’m doing my best but I know what abandonment can do to a kid, she’s strong and stubborn as all hell but she suffers silently. She doesn’t ask questions about where mom went, I worry sometimes that she thinks she did something wrong and caused it.”

Elektra places a comforting hand on his shoulder. “That’s too bad for her. I hope my class could help in even the littlest way. She deserves it.”

She reaches up, and brushes away of piece of hair that dangles above his eye. Then she gently caresses the side of his face without thinking, then returns her hand to her lap.

Flooded with a sudden rush of emotions, Matt leans in and kisses Elektra. It’s gentle, soft with his hand tilting her chin up to bring her lips up to his. He pulls away after a moment and retreats his hand, realising both the haste of his actions and how he hadn’t asked first before making the move.

Elektra can see his hesitation, and possible regret, written on his face. She leans over and kisses him back. Just as softly as he kissed her. Her hand slipping into his hair.

He hums softly in contentment against her lips. Their noses bump as he goes to deepen the kiss and he swiftly tosses his glasses onto the coffee table when they slide down his nose. It’s been a long time since Matt has wanted something this much and for once, he’s happy to oblige himself.

She snuggles in closer, and moans quietly as he lays her on her back. Her legs wrapping around him.

Still, there’s no urgency in the kiss.

Matt is happy to stay like this forever, with Elektra warm and soft beneath him, sighing the occasional moan which is one of the most beautiful sounds he’s ever heard. It’s slow and romantic and perfect. 

He eventually breaks the kiss to move down and start pressing kisses to her jaw and neck, again without haste but instead worshiping the body beneath him.

Her arms find their way around his torso, as her head tilts back to give him more access. Her eyelashes fluttering and her mouth forming an ‘o’, as she lets out gentle sighs and moans.

His lips almost feel better against her skin, then they do against her own lips. Almost.

“Stay the night.” Matt says through kisses, his breath warm against Elektra’s skin and his voice equally so. “We can do whatever you want, take it as slow as we need to.” He feels no need to get into her pants as quickly as possible, she deserves better than that.

He pulls back and rests their foreheads together once more, letting Elektra see his eyes which were facing a little left of her mouth.

“I’d like that.” Her fingers trail up, and rub the base of his neck gently. “I’d like that a lot.”

Matt hums softly, feeling the tension slowly leaving his body. He’s happy with his life now but it isn’t free from stress, every second he wonders if he is doing the right thing for his daughter, for the city, but in Elektra’s company he can let go of that for a while.

He kisses her again, their chests brushing as he gets as close as he dares to. She nibbles slightly on his lower lip, before pulling away. “You’re good at this.” She breathes as his hand dips to her waist.

Without thinking, she lifts her legs higher, hiking up her dress, and revealing her panties. Still, the kisses remain free of sexual tension.

“Is that surprising?” Matt teases. He keeps his hands above her hips, not wanting to push his luck and travel any lower. He is a gentleman, after all. At least on the first date.

“Maybe.” She teases back, before leaning up and kissing him again.

The couch is beginning to dig into her back, and giving her a kink. Elektra eyes his bedroom across from them, and breaks the kiss. “Do you think we could maybe move this into the bedroom? Just to kiss of course.” She twirls a piece of hair at the nap of his neck.

Would she like for things to go farther now? Yes, but Matt doesn’t seem too, and that’s fine with her. His kisses are intoxicating enough.

“Someone’s eager,” he presses a kiss to her nose before sitting up.

His bedroom is in a slightly better state of tidiness than the rest of the apartment. It’s barren of any decoration, spaces on shelves are empty from where Claire had taken her things and old photo frames are left without the pictures inside. The bed is large and comfortable though with silk sheets, plenty of space for a long night together

Elektra follows him into the room, and lets him lay her on the bed. She reaches behind and unhooks her bra, before he settles himself between her legs.

Her arms link around his neck, and she pulls him close. Letting herself melt back into his kisses. Sighing with contentment when he sucks on her bottom lip.

Matt can tell Elektra wants him, it would be so easy to give in now and give what they both desire but he doesn’t. He wants to be sure, he wants it to be special and most importantly, he wants something that will last. He doesn’t want a fling, Elektra deserves better than that.

He kisses her until they have to pull away in fear of getting too handsy but even then, he leaves a few more scattered across her face for good measure.

When Elektra wakes up the next morning, she’s greeted with the smell of fresh coffee, and bacon frying.

She climbs out of the bed, and grabs the bra she threw across the room the night before. She pads barefoot into the kitchen, and greets Matt with a kiss. “Good morning.”

Matt pretends to be surprised when Elektra walks into the kitchen, in reality he’s been waiting anxiously since he heard her wake up to come in. It had been mere hours since they had last kissed but he had already found himself craving her lips.

“Good morning to you,” he says as he serves breakfast, “Mary’s getting dropped off in an hour so you can leave before then or…” he takes his time in pouring the coffee, it gives him a moment to mull over his offer, “you can stay. We don’t have to tell her anything but she already likes you more than she does me, so.”

“Not possible. She worships you.” She smiles. “I’d love to stay, if you think that’s a good idea. You’re her father. I don’t want to overstep.”

“I think she’ll be happy to see you.” He says before laying the table and sitting down with Elektra to eat.

A little under an hour later, there’s a firm knock on the door and Matt gets up from where they’d been lounging on the couch. Maggie stands there with Mary tucked up by her side, they talk briefly about how the day had gone, simple things before she excuses herself and gives Mary a gentle push of encouragement inside.

Matt crouches down to give Mary a hug, burying his face in the wild mane of her dark hair as she explains all the things she had helped out with around the church. 

Elektra pulls at her sleeve as she waits for Mary to come inside. She hopes the little girl will be happy to see her, but she’s not sure. This is different then how they usually meet, in a class full of students. She just wants Mary to be comfortable with her around. Especially if things get more serious with Matt.

“I have a friend waiting inside whose very excited to see you, do you wanna guess who it is?” Matt asks and Mary pauses, glancing down the small hallway leading to the living room.

“Uncle Foggy?” Matt shakes his head. “Auntie Karen?” He shakes his head again and Mary pulls a face, confused to think that Matt has any other friends.

“I guess we’ll just have to go find out, huh?” Matt finally says before standing up, ruffling Mary’s curls before letting her walk ahead of him.

“Hi.” Elektra gently waves as Mary turns the corner. “Nice to see you.”

Mary is quiet for a moment before turning to Matt, both curiousness and excitement lacing her voice.

“She’s my friend,” She says before slipping her backpack off and hurrying over to climb onto the couch beside Elektra.

“We can share friends, sweetheart,” Matt laughs and goes towards the kitchen to start making Mary breakfast. He trusts things will be fine between her and Elektra, maybe she just has a natural charm around Murdocks.

Elektra gives Mary a quick squeeze, and the little girl begins to discuss how her weekend has been. Elektra listens attentively, and braids her hair while she talks.

As Matt listens in on the conversation being had, his heart feels full and he can’t help but smile. It’s far too soon to be thinking like this but they make a nice family together, he adores it being just him and Mary but he also knows they were both missing something. 

He waits until Elektra is done braiding Mary’s hair before plating her breakfast and placing it on the table. He walks over to the couch and presses a kiss to the crown of her head before encouraging her to go eat.

Matt takes a seat beside her, and Elektra smiles. “How do you think it’s going?” She asks quietly.

Mary seems happy to see her, but he’s her dad, and knows her better. Elektra can’t help but wonder if she’s intruding.

He waits until Mary isn’t paying them any attention before leaning in and quickly stealing a kiss.

“She adores you,” he whispers against her lips before pulling away and casually resting his arm along the back of the couch.

“You’re sweet.” She tucks back a piece of hair. “What do you say to a dinner date this Friday? It could just be us, or you could bring Mary if you want.”

Elektra glances back and sees she’s still scarfing down her food. Not paying any attention to them.

“Since she gets to see you at ballet lessons, I’d like to steal you away for myself, just this once.” He reaches out and takes a hold of Elektra’s hand, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles. He hadn’t ever really expected to find someone who could not only handle both himself and Mary but _wanted_ to at that, it all felt a little too good to be true.

“Sounds good.” She smiles, but pulls her hand back when Mary comes running in.

She assumes Matt doesn’t want her to know, when things are still so new.

Friday comes around and Matt sends Mary to spend time with Karen for the night, he was pretty sure that was the whole point of having god-parents in the first place. He knocks on Elektra’s door, Orchids in hand; Mary had helped pick them out, he simply hadn’t told her who they were for.

Elektra’s eyes light up when she opens the door, and sees Matt on the other side. Bouquet in hand.

“Orchids, my favourites! How did you know?” She greets him with a kiss.

“Lucky guess,” he smiles and brings her in for another kiss. It may only have been a few days since the last time they were together but he had been missing her touch every second since. 

She resists the urge to tug him inside and ravish him, and instead grabs her jacket. Slipping it on, before linking their arms.

“Where to Mr. Murdock?” Elektra goes full on posh lady, and she can tell he loves it.

They have a table booked a restaurant fancier than anything Matt has been to for a long time. He nudges his foot against her ankle as they sit at their table, he runs his fingers over the braille menu and feels more at peace with another person than he has done in a while.

He’d thought dating again after Claire would be painful, would rehash old forgotten memories but with Elektra, the only thing he can think about is her. He’s _happy_.

The dinner is good, the conversation great. When it’s over and he walks her home, they exchange kisses at her door.

“I’d invite you inside, but it might lead to somewhere, and I’m not sure if we’re there yet.” She caresses his cheek, then kisses it. “Goodnight Matthew. See you at her next lesson.” She winks, then steps inside.

Some might have been disappointed by Elektra’s choice, but Matt was too enthralled to feel anything but excitement for the time when they were both ready to take that step.  

A few days later, it’s time for Mary’s ballet lesson and as always, they walk in together. Matt has a suspicion that Mary has somewhat of an idea what is going on between himself and Elektra, she’s too smart for her own damn good. He feels like she’ll be happy about it but nerves still linger.

“Hi Mary.” Elektra greets her with a grin, as she runs over to put on her shoes.

“Hi!” The little girl waves back, then sits with her friends.

Once the class is over, Elektra walks over to where Matt sits. “I was thinking the three of us could go out for smoothies, if that’s okay with your dad.” It might be good to get her to use of the idea of her dating her dad, if she sees them together more.

“Please Daddy.” Mary turns to him, and hugs his arm.

“Sounds good to me,” Matt smiles and by habit, Mary grabs his hand to help lead him. However, she also extends one out to Elektra. He senses her do this but says nothing, his heart warming at the gesture though.

A smile breaks out on Elektra’s face when Mary takes her hand, and they all head together to the nearby smoothie shop.

They feel like a family, and it makes her heart feel like it’s about to burst.

He lets Mary and Elektra sit on the same side of the booth, perfectly happy to sit there and listen to Mary tell her what she had been up to since her last lesson. Like at dinner, he discretely rubs at Elektra’s ankle with his foot, just to tell her he was thinking about her.

“So, we have something to tell you,” Matt eventually pipes up once the conversation dulls. Mary frowns with her mouth wrapped around her straw.

“Something bad?” She asks, looking between him and Elektra.

“No, nothing bad.” Elektra knows Matt should take the lead. He knows her best. “It’s good news actually.”

Matt explains as delicately and simply as he can about himself and Elektra. Mary sits and listens intently, sipping at her smoothie before piping up herself.

“I know.” She says and Matt frowns in response.

“You know?” Mary nods and turns to Elektra.

“Daddy doesn’t have many friends.” She explains with an almost know-it-all tone of voice, “He smiles more around you though. You’re nice and funny.”

Elektra blushes. “And you’re okay with this?” Mary nods, then hugs Elektra. She returns the hug, and smiles brightly at Matt.

Matt is glad he was wearing his glasses, they hid his now slightly teary eyes. While he understood why Claire had left, he was so glad to now have someone in his life who wanted him for both himself and his daughter. He was a father, above anything else and Elektra not only accepted that but embraced it.

Maybe they could have a happy family after all. 


End file.
